Newcastle journalists voice 'deep concern' about MD exit

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Trinity Mirror journalists in Newcastle have passed a vote of no confidence in the group’s regionals managing director, Georgina Harvey.

The National Union of Journalists chapel at NCJ Media – which publishes the Newcastle Chronicle and The Journal – passed the motion following the abrupt departure of Trinity Mirror North East managing director Steve Brown last week.

The chapel said it was concerned by the move, which leaves the division without a managing director, and said that it had “deep concerns” about Trinity Mirror’s future plans.

“The NCJ Media chapel of the National Union of Journalists is deeply concerned at Steve Brown’s sacking by Georgina Harvey, managing director, Trinity Mirror regionals, and has no confidence in her ability to lead this company,” the motion read.

“The NUJ did not always see eye to eye with Steve but, despite a recent programme of redundancies, respects him as the man who led NCJ Media into its position as Trinity Mirror’s most profitable centre.

“In these challenging times we want to have confidence in the person at the top. We need an exceptional MD: Steve Brown is that person.”

It added: “The fact that, at the time of writing, there has been no official announcement from Trinity Mirror HQ on Steve’s sacking demonstrates a worrying attitude from Trinity Mirror and Georgina Harvey to their relationship with NCJ Media staff.”

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said in a statement that the NUJ’s claim that staff were not officially informed was “simply untrue”.

He said: “Steve Brown’s departure from Trinity Mirror was announced to all staff in both our North East and Midlands businesses on the day he left in either face-to-face meetings or via an internal email.”